Media Thinks Lawsuit Against Fox Is Great, Until They Get Owned and Have to Defend Fox

The NBC logo is seen by passersby at its brand store in New York, Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. Comcast Corp., a 1,200-subscriber cable system in Tupelo, Miss., is nearing a deal to control the NBC networks and the Universal movie studios. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Some in mainstream media cheered when the Washington League For Increased Transparency& Ethics (WASHLITE) filed a lawsuit against Fox News seeking an injunction to prevent Fox from “interfering with reasonable and necessary measures to contain the virus by publishing further false and deceptive content.”

Translation: a leftist organization claiming to care about transparency wants to shut down news or opinion they don’t like. What a way to not have transparency or First Amendment rights for that matter.

Fox is fighting back saying this is a danger to the First Amendment. “Plaintiffs’ position would allow the government to censor not just Fox News but also CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, ESPN, and every other cable network. That is as dangerous as it is frivolous,” they said in response.

“Fox’s commentary on the coronavirus is core political speech on a matter of public concern — how dangerous the coronavirus is, and how society and the government should respond to it,” Fox lawyers said April 23.

“Under both the First Amendment and state law, the value of this type of speech must be resolved through free and open debate in the marketplace of ideas — not through litigation seeking to impose legal penalties on statements alleged to be ‘false’ or contrary to official government pronouncements.”

But what’s really humorous is who is now joining them in the fight, filing an amicus brief with the court, the Internet & Television Association (NCTA) and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP). They argued against the claim that from WASHLITE that “cable programmers do not have First Amendment rights.”